Spiral tube winding machine



May 30, 1939. H. DE SMITH SPIRAL TUBE WINDING MACHINE Filed June 2, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet l SPIRAL TUBE WINDING MACHINE Wency 27657712 th ATTORNEY Patented May 30, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicE srraaarunamndmcm i.

mimi ne smith, menester, N. Y., wim to M. D. Knowlton Company, Rochester, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application June 2, 19938, Serial No. 211,409

12 Claims. (CL 93-80) This invention relates to machines for winding Y spiral paper tubes and the like.

In the making of paper tubes, a plurality oi.' strips of paper with adhesive thereon, are spirally wound on a mandrel to form the tube. Where a tube having a heavy wall is to be wound, it is -necessary to build up such a tube from many strips or plies of paper customarily applied in sets, each set being applied by a separate winding l0 head. Such a winding head includes a winding ybelt which compresses the several sets oi' paper strips, suitably coated with adhesive, into a compact tubular layer. In the manufacture of such a thick walled tube by using two winding heads, 1,5 the belt of the rst head engages the top ply of half the number ofV plies and the belt of the second winding-head in succession engages thev outside ply of the remaining strips comprising the tube. In the case where more than two winding heads are used, for example, three or four, the number of plies under the belt of each head will be of approximately equal thickness. If the winding rbelts of a multi-unit Winder run at the same speed, successive belts will engage tube sections of diilerent diameters and will run slower than the tube sections with the result that the speed of preceding belts will be counteracted and a loosely wound, unsatisfactory tube will result. In the past it has been necessary to interchange pulleys on the winding headsto bring their winding belts intopropel' speed relation for the forming of compactly vwound tubes. However, such a procedure is cumbersomeand unsatisfactory.

The present invention has for its purpose a novel arrangement whereby the belts on the winding heads of a multi-unit spiral-tube Winder can be easily and accurately adjusted to operate at such a speed that all"of the paper layers will be uniformly wound into a compactly formed tube.

The various features and advantages of the invention will appear from the detailed description and claims when taken with the "drawings in which Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the winder of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the Winder of Fig. 1 showing the manner of feeding the paper strips thereto, and

Fig. 3 is a skeleton showing of the driving and adjusting elements of the winder. V n

The spiral tube 5 to be made on the present machine is formed from a plurality of strips or plies of paper herein designated 6, I 'and 8 suitably coated with adhesive on certain of their surfaces and wound into spiral form to constitute 65 the finished tube. The machine on which the,

tube 6 is wound comprises a frame 9 provided with a bed plate III, and a fixed horizontal mandrel Il on which the layers or plies of paper are spirally wound by means hereinafter described.

In the present machine two winding heads in lalined relation generally designated I2 and I3 are disclosed, although it will be understood-that additional winding heads may be utilized where spiral tubes of greater thickness are desired.

4Each winding head comprises a saddle I4 adjustably mounted on the bed plate on which saddle there is provided a slide i! mounted to swivel on the saddle. The slide I5 is adjusted by means of the xed gear segment I6 forming a part oi the saddle and a worm gear (not shown) journaled in the slide and in engagement with the segment. 'I'he worm gear is rotated by means of the handwheel II. On this slide there are mounted two vertical shafts I8 and I9 in spaced relation. 'I'hese shafts support' pulleys 20 and 2| about which a twisted belt 22 passes around the mandrel I I in engagement with the top ply oi' a set of plies to be formed into the paper tube. The shaft I8 is fixed relative to the slide and is driven by means to be described. However, the shaft I9 which carries the pulley 2i (preferably driven) is mounted in a bracket 23 adjustable relative to the fixed shaft I8 along the slide I5, by means of the screw 24 operated by the hand-wheel 25 so that shaft I9 and the pulley 2| thereon can be adjusted with respect to the pulley 20. By adjusting the pulley 2I with respect to the pulley 20the twisted belt 22 which is wrapped around the mandrel as indicated at 26 can be tightened or loosened to effect the desired compression and travel of the several plies of paper into tubular form on the mandrel II. It will be'understood that the mandrel II is detachably supported 'in the adjustable clamps 21 and may be replaced by a mandrel of any wanted size. y

Since the winding heads'4 I2 and I3 as well as the driving mechanismrelated thereto are substantially identical, like reference characters, with the addition of the letter a, have been used to v indicate the elements associated with the winding head I3, which correspond to similar elements associated with the winding head I2.

The pulley shaft I8 ofthe winding head I2 carries abeveled gear 28 (Fig. 3)drivenl by the beveled pinion gear 28 which is mounted on the shaft 3l).` Shaft 30 extends longitudinally of the frame and is journaled in suitable bearings Il carried by the bed plate. I0. One end of the vshaft 30 is provided with a grooved pulley 22 which is by the grooved pulley 34 on the variable-speed shaft 35 of the variable-speed transmission unit v indicated generally by 36.

- wheel 42, the ends of the levers 40, which are pivoted on the nuts I3 carried by the adjusting screw, can be moved toward or away from each other. This adjustment of these levers will swing them about their individual pins Il carried by the frame of the transmission unit 36, to move the respective halves of one pulley closer together and the respective halves of the other pulley farther apart so that the effective diameters of these pulleys will be changed.

While a certain type of transmission unit has been illustrated and described, various other types of units, such as two interengaging tapered pulleys may likewise be used.

The fixed speed shaft 31 of the transmission unit 36 carries a grooved pulley 45 driven by the belts 46 in turn driven by the grooved pulley 4l mounted on the shaft of the motor 48. The pulley 45 is provided with a clutch 49 operated by means of the safety shifting lever 50 so that the machine may be instantly started or stopped.

The pulley shaft I3a of the winding head I3 carries a beveled gear 28a driven by the beveled pinion gear 29a which is mounted on the shaft 30a. The shaft 30a which is separate from the shaft 30 is mounted in alignment therewith and is journaled in suitable bearings 3Ia carried by the bed plate. The righthand end of the shaft 30a is provided with a grooved pulley 32a which is driven by means of the belts 33a. These belts are driven by the groovedV pulley 34a on the variable speed shaft 35a of the variable speed transmission unit generally designated 36a. The fixed speed shafts 31a of this unit, is coupled to the fixed speed shaft 31 through the extension shaft I and the couplings 52 so that these shafts operate at the same rate of speed.

The adjusting screw dla for the variable speed transmission unit 36a, is mounted in alignment with the corresponding adjusting screw 4I of the variable speed transmission unit 36. These screws are arranged to be adjusted either independently or as a' unit, and to effect this result these screws are connected together by means of a coupling shaft extension 53 and a cutout clutch 54. When this cutout clutch is in full engagement, the adjusting screws Il and 4Ia are connected through the extension shaft 53 so that an adjustment of either of the handwheels 42 or 42a, respectively mounted on these screws, will similarly effect the winding speed at both winding heads I2 and I3 simultaneously, thereby keeping the speed between the winding heads at a predetermined proportion. However, if it is desired to increase the speed of the second winding head I3 independently of the winding head I2, the clutch shifter 55 is moved to a position so that the screw lla is disengaged from the shaft extension 53. Under this condition when the handwheel 42a is rotated, the speed transmission unit 36a only will be effected and it may be adjusted to increase or decrease the speed of the belt 22a on the winding head I3.

In making a spiral paper tube on the' above described machine, a dry paper strip 6 is' fed from a reel stand 56 (Fig. 2) I at one side of the winding head to form the rstor inner ply of the tube. A plurality of paper strips 'l are next fed to the machine from the other side of the winding head and these strips with the exception of the uppermost one, are preferably coated with adhesive on both surfaces thereof, in a glue tank 51. The surface 5s cf the uppermost strip 'l is" uncoated to prevent the adhesive on the inner plies from coming in contact with the winding belt 22 of the winding head I2. The winding belt 22 snugly encircles the spirally wound plies 6 and 1 and compresses them about the mandrel while at the same time automatically feeding the tube toward the right, as viewed in Fig. 2. The set of paper strips 8 are applied tc the partially completed tube by the Winding head .I3 in the same manner as the strips 1, the upper surface of the outer ply 59 being left uncoated in order to keep the winding belt 22a of the winding head I3 free of adhesive. The finished paper tube 5 as it leaves the mandrel II can be fed to a suitable cutoff unit (not shown) where it is severed into pieces of desired lengths. y

It will be seen that if the several`winding belts 22 and 22a were to run at the same speed, the finished paper tube would be of loose, unsatisfactory construction for the outside diameter of the paper tube at each of the winding heads is dierent, since a number of plies of paper are applied to the moving tube just before it enters a winding head. Thus for example the winding belt 22a of the head I3 would tend to slow up the other winding belt 22 resulting in a loosel wound tube.

It will thus be seen that the Winder of the present invention can be readily set up to wind tubes of any diameter merely by introducing the appropriate mandrel therein and by adjusting the speed of the Winding head or heads Without the cumbersome operation of changing driving pulleys to obtain the required speed or speeds. Furthermore, the ease in effecting the change of speed in the several winding heads uniformly produces a more satisfactory product.

What I claim is: Y

1. A machine for winding spiral tubes comprising a mandrel, a plurality of winding heads disposed in operative relationto said mandrel, means for driving said winding heads at predetermined speeds, said means including a variable speed transmission unit for one of said heads, and means for adjusting said transmission unit to vary the speed of said last-mentioned head with relation to the speed of another' of said winding heads.

2. A machine for winding spiral tubes comprising a frame, a mandrel supported on said frame, a plurality of winding heads carried by said frame, separate means for driving each of said winding heads, said means including a variable speed transmission unit for each of said winding heads, and means for adjusting each of said transmission units tovvary the speed of said winding heads.`

3. A machine for winding spiral tubes comprising a. frame,.a mandrel supported on said frame, a pair of pulleys mounted for rotation xon said frame, a belt carried by said pulleys and twisted about said mandrel, means for driving at least one of said pulleys, said means including a variable speed transmission unit, a member for adjusting said transmission unit to vary the speed of rotation of the pulley driven thereby, a second pair of pulleys mounted for rotation on said frame, a belt carried by said second pair of pulleys and twisted about said mandrel, and means for driving at least one pulley of said second pair= 4. A-machine for winding spiral tubes comprising a frame, a mandrel supported on said frame, a pair of pulleys mounted for rotation on said frame, a belt carried by said pulleys and twisted about said mandrel, means for driving at least one of said pulleys, said means including a variable speed transmission unit, a member for adjusting said transmission unit to vary the speed of rotation of the pulley driven thereby, a second pair of pulleys mounted for rotation on said frame, a belt carried by said second pair of pulleys and twisted about said mandrel, means for driving at least one pulley of said second pair, said means including a second variable speed transmission unit, -a member for adjusting said unit for varying the speed of rotation of the last-mentioned pulley, and means for selectively coupling said members to adjust said transmission units simultaneously.

5. A machine for winding spiral tubes comprising a frame, a mandrel supported on said frame, a plurality of Winding heads carried by said frame, means for driving said winding heads, said means including a plurality of variable speed transmission units each having a iixed speed shaft and a variable speed shaft, means for transmitting therotation of the variable speed shaft of each transmission unit to a winding head, means for adjusting the speed Aof said variable speed shafts, and means for selectively 'or simultaneously operating said last-mentioned 6. A machine for winding spiral tubes comprising a frame, a mandrel supported on said frame, a plurality of winding heads carried by said frame, means for driving said winding heads, said means including a plurality of var- .iable speed transmission units each having a fixed speed shaft and a variable speed shaft,

means for transmitting the rotation of the variable speed shaft of each transmission unit to a winding head, means for adjusting each of said transmission units to vary the speed of the variable speed shafts, a shaft interconnecting said last-mentioned means for simultaneously adjusting the speed of said variable speed shafts,

a clutch on said shaft whereby said variableY thereby adjust the speed of said variable speedshaft, a screw for shifting said lever, means for driving said driven shafts at the same rate of the winding head driven thereby, said last-mentioned means including a lever and a screw for shifting said lever, means for driving another of said winding heads, said means including a variable speed transmission unit, means for adjusting said last-mentioned transmission unit including a lever and a screw for moving said lever, and means for coupling said screws Whereby said levers may be shifted simultaneously.

9. A machine for winding spiral tubes or the like, comprising a mandrel, a plurality of -winding heads, each winding head including a belt twisted about said mandrel, means individual to each of said winding heads for driving said belts at predetermined speeds, said means each comprising a lvariable speed transmission unit having a xed speed-shaft and a variable speed shaft, a split-cone pulley on each shaft, a belt connecting said pulleys, a lever for shifting the respective halves of said pulleys and thereby adjust the speed of said variable speed shaft, a screw for shifting the lever, means coupling said fixed speed shafts together, a coupling shaft extending between the screws of each transmission unit whereby said levers may be shifted simultaneously on rotation of a screw, and a clutch for disengaglng said coupling shaft.

10. A machine for winding spiral tubes or the like comprising a mandrel, a plurality of winding heads disposed in operative relation to said mandrel, a plurality of transmission units, each transmission unit having a driven shaft and a variable speed shaft, a split-cone pulley mounted on each shaft, a belt connecting said pulleys, a pair of levers for shifting the respective halves of said pulleys to vary the effective diameter thereof and thereby adjust the speed of said variable speed shaft, a screw for simultaneously shifting said levers, means for coupling said driven shafts together, means for selectively coupling the screws of the several transmission units to simultaneously adjust the speed of each variable speed shaft, and means for transmitting the rotation of each variable speed shaft to a related winding head.

11. A machine for winding spiral tubes comprising a mandrel, a plurality of winding heads disposed in operative relation to said mandrel, means for driving said winding heads, and means 4for adjusting the speed of one of said winding heads with relation to the speed of another of said winding heads.

12. A machine for winding spiral tubes comprising a mandrel, a plurality of winding heads disposed in operative relation to said mandrel, separate means for driving eachof said winding heads, said means being adjustable to vary the speed of said heads, and means for selectively orisimultaneouslyy adjusting said means to vary the speed of said heads.

, HENRY DE SMITH. 

